Dose: Toews for Two
There were five games in the NHL on Friday so let’s get to the action.
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CHICAGO 4 BUFFALO 3
Jonathan Toews scored twice in the last two minutes of the third to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Sabres fans who are looking to finish last and guarantee the franchise either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, have to love the performance of Toews as Buffalo snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and remain two points behind the Arizona Coyotes in the battle for 30th place in the NHL.
Duncan Keith opened the scoring for the Blackhawks and Patrick Sharp made it 2-0 in the first before Marcus Foligno scored his first of two in the second stanza to cut the lead in half. Johan Larsson scored on the power play in the third and then Foligno scored his eighth of the season to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead with 7:18 remaining in the third to set up Toews heroics.
Scott Darling stopped 35 shots to improve his record to 9-3 while Anders Lindback stopped 32 shots and saw his record fall to 5-14-2.
Rasmus Ristolainen set up all three Sabres goals.
NEW JERSEY 3 MONTREAL 2 (Shootout)
Patrik Elias and Jacob Josefson each scored in the shootout to lead the Devils to a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
Stefan Matteau opened the scoring with his first goal of the season and only the second of his young NHL career to give New Jersey an early 1-0 lead before Tomas Plekanec on the power play and Jeff Petry with his seventh, scored to give the Habs a 2-1 lead after one period of play.
Reid Boucher , with his first of the season scored to tie the game at two apiece in the second and it remained that way until the shootout.
It was the battle of the backup goalies as Keith Kinkaid was victorious and moved his record to 6-5-3, stopping 31 shots. Dustin Tokarski made 16 saves as his record fell to 6-6-4.
Scott Gomez picked up a five minute major for elbowing Alexei Emelin and also picked up a game misconduct for his misdeed. Emelin returned to action and played 21:44.
Andrei Markov was a healthy scratch for the first time this season as the Canadiens gave him some time off to keep him rested for the playoffs. Sergei Gonchar replaced him on the power play.
ST. LOUIS 7 DALLAS 5
Jaden Schwartz picked up the hat trick to lead the St. Blues to a 7-5 come-from-behind victory over the Dallas Stars.
It was a wild one as the Blues came back from a 5-3 deficit late in the second period, to beat the Stars.
Patrik Berglund scored twice with Zbynek Michalek and Alex Pietrangelo each scoring once and adding an assist.
Jamie Benn scored twice and added an assist while Tyler Seguin scored once and had a pair of helpers. Travis Moen on a penalty shot and Antoine Roussel completed the scoring.
It was Roussel’s second goal in his last 32 games.
Trevor Daley was a minus-five in the game.
Brian Elliott stopped 27-of-32 shots to boost his record to 25-14-3 while Kari Lehtonen stopped only 13-of-19 shots before being replaced by Jhonas Enroth who needed to make one save in the third.
SAN JOSE 3 ARIZONA 1
Antti Niemi turned aside 20 shots to pick up his 30th win of the season as the San Jose Sharks defeated the struggling Arizona Coyotes 3-1.
Louis Domingue stopped 34 Shark shots to take the loss.
Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski put the Sharks up 2-0 five minutes into the first period. Mark Arcobello with his 16th of the season cut the lead in half in the second but Matt Nieto scored with less than six minutes to go in the third to give the Sharks the insurance goal they needed.
COLORADO 4 ANAHEIM 2
Reto Berra was great as he made 35 saves to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-2 win over Anaheim on Friday.
Berra raised his record to 4-4-1 win the win. John Gibson stopped 19 shots in taking the loss for the Ducks.
Matt Duchene and Dennis Everberg led the way for the Avs as each had a goal and an assist. John Mitchell, who opened the scoring, and Gabriel Landeskog with his 23rd, also scored for Colorado.
Jiri Sekac was in on both goals for the Ducks with his ninth goal and his 14th assist while Rickard Rakell also scored his ninth.
Tyson Barrie continued his fine season with a couple of assists.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
GOALS
Jaden Schwartz 3
Jonathan Toews 2
Marcus Foligno 2
Jamie Benn 2
Patrik Berglund 2
ASSISTS
Rasmus Ristolainen 3
Andrew Shaw 2
Brandon Saad 2
Tyler Seguin 2
Jay Bouwmeester 2
Kevin Shattenkirk 2
T.J. Oshie 2
Patrick Marleau 2
Tyson Barrie 2
SHOTS
Tyler Seguin 8
Brendan Gallagher 6
Brent Seabrook 5
Nicolas Deslauriers 5
Jaden Schwartz 5
Logan Couture 5
Joe Pavelski 5
Sami Vatanen 5
HITS
Klas Dahlbeck 7
Zach Bogosian 5
Ryan Reaves 5
PENALTY MINUTES
Scott Gomez 15
Antoine Roussel 6
PLUS /MINUS
Kevin Shattenkirk +3
T.J. Oshie +3
BLOCKS
Tyson Strachan 4
Jay Bouwmeester 4
PLUS/MINUS
Trevor Daley -5
Patrik Nemeth -3
Jason Spezza -3
